"The robbed that smiles steals something from the thief".--Othello Act I, Scene III

Dream Eater

From somewhere in the distance, a door was slammed. Zoro heard Nami shrieking about it being too early for that kind of noise, he heard Sanji come to her aid. He listened to the exchange for a few moments before he realized that he was back on the Sunny and he jolted awake.

The swordsman sat bolt-upright in his hammock, sending himself off balance and onto the floor. He'd been moved from the kitchen, but he didn't care. Someone had taken his shirt off, too, but he didn't know or care why.

In two bounding steps he'd crossed the room and flung the door open, startling Usopp, who was reaching for the knob. Zoro ignored him as he relayed the message that it was time to eat, making a beeline for the infirmary.

He didn't remember anything after passing into the Dream Eater's lair. He'd met with Kuina, found the wall. His hand passed through it, like the stone didn't even exist, so he'd jumped in. And then… nothing.

Something was itching at the back of his brain. He couldn't remember what but Zoro was certain that he was forgetting something! But if he couldn't remember, he wasn't going to dwell on it and flung the infirmary door hastily open instead, startling his second victim for the day.

"Gahh! Zoro! You scared me!" Chopper shrieked, leaning against the doorframe in a failed attempt at hiding. Zoro peered past the reindeer to the empty room behind him.

"Where's Luffy?" Chopper looked confused, and maybe a little concerned, at his tone of voice when he asked the question. The reindeer shrugged.

"In the… kitchen. Why?" He asked, but Zoro ignored him and headed for the kitchen, pulling this door open and making a rather grand entrance. Everyone turned to him as he shouted his captain's name, relief flooding his voice. Luffy turned to him with a mouthful of food. He smiled and gave a sheepish wave.

"Sorry Zoro, I ate yours." He said, though he didn't look very sorry. Before Zoro could say anything, Sanji scoffed.

"So nice of you to join us, Marimo." He snapped, turning back to the counter, where he was cleaning up after his cooking.

"Luffy, what the hell happened?" Zoro asked, "I don't… remember anything." By this time, Chopper had walked into the room after Zoro. Everyone looked confused. Luffy at once adopted a frantic expression.

"You don't remember! Chopper! Zoro has amnesia!" Again, something in the back of his mind Zoro was overcome with the overwhelming feeling that he was forgetting something, or that he was missing some very important detail.

"No Luffy, he doesn't." Nami assured, grabbing his shoulder and forcing him to sit back down. Chopper frowned at the swordsman, sizing him up.

"Zoro, what are you talking about?" Zoro gave them all an incredulous look, which they matched, some with skepticism, some with concern.

"What do you mean, 'what are you talking about'?" he pointed an accusatory finger at Luffy. "You were dead—" at this point, Zoro lost what little control of the situation he had when Sanji burst into hysterics. Between breaths, he managed to mock the swordsman.

"Stupid… Marimo's worked up… over a bad dream!" At this point, both of the girls gave him sympathetic looks and Luffy joined in on the laughing, though he didn't really see what was so funny.

"Shut up, Cook. It wasn't a fucking dream." He snapped, though he wasn't so sure. He turned to Nami, who was still looking sympathetic. "Don't look at me like that." Sanji crossed the space between them, glaring daggers.

"Don't talk to a lady that way you ogre!" He moved to kick the swordsman square in the chest. Zoro would have blocked it, but when he went for his swords, he stopped short. The force behind the kick sent him out the galley door and onto the deck. Sanji looked surprised—he'd expected Zoro to block the kick—and went to the door to look out at him.

Zoro grabbed Kitetsu with a pensive hand. He only had one of his swords. But where were the other two?

Wait!

His head snapped toward the cook when he realized what had happened. Death had warned him about this, and he'd fallen for it! He pointed his sword at Sanji, who had adopted a grave expression.

"You're not the cook." Sanji's face twisted into a scowl, as the form itself, and everything around him, began to blur. It was all an illusion.

The change was disorienting. It was getting harder to remember where he was, what was happening. Zoro didn't know why he was here, just that he needed to get out. He sensed movement, heard the displacement of air, but he couldn't tell where it was coming from. Movement to his left caught his eye, and Zoro lashed out at it.

In an instant, the world came into focus once again.

He felt something warm running over his hands, and looked up to see a bright orange patch of hair. He stepped back, and Nami fell in a heap into the blood stained grass of the Thousand Sunny.

"You killed them." Zoro turned to Robin, who was standing on the other side of the deck, staring solemnly at him. Her voice hadn't been accusing—it was a simple statement of facts, as though she'd expected this to happen all along. Between them were the bodies of their captain, navigator, and sharpshooter, all with a sword obtruding from their backs. His swords were gone from his side, because they were…

He raised a shaky hand, staring at the red stained skin. This couldn't be happening. This was wrong, he wouldn't kill them, not his nakama… and yet, he couldn't remember anything of what had happened until now.

"You bastard!" Zoro turned to the accuser, just in time to take a fist to the jaw. He stumbled slightly, and turned to look at the source of the attack.

"Sanji." Zoro spit a mouthful of blood into the dirt. He studied the ground seeming to be lost in thought. After a long moment, his lips curled into a smirk. "Heh, you idiot."

"I'm the idiot? You killed—"

"No." Zoro cut him off. Sanji took a wary step back at the threat beneath the words. "You fuckers need to do your research. I have three swords, the stupid cook doesn't punch, and Luffy is my captain, I am not leaving without him!"

Sanji stepped back, letting out a feral growl that was completely out of character. He began to disappear, leaving only a black mass in the cook's wake. It floated over the deck, bobbing back and forth mindlessly as the Zoro watched it, unmoving. As soon as he took a step toward it, the beast let out a ghastly shriek and darted away from the swordsman.

Again, the world became blurry, but Zoro was expecting it this time, and managed to hold onto his senses, focusing on the black spirit that had, at this point, stopped running from him. He wasn't on the Sunny anymore—though he realized that he'd never really been on the Sunny—instead, he was standing before a writhing mass of black shadows, hundreds, it seemed, all swarming around the center of the room. There was a light source somewhere, though he couldn't see it from where he stood.

A Dream Eater darted past him, joining the mass of creatures in the center of the room. He was being ignored completely, probably because the Baku didn't know that he was no longer in the grips of their illusion. The mass shifted, and a beam of light peeked out from between the beasts to strike the ceiling. It looked like one of the orbs of light he'd seen earlier—an unprocessed soul.

That was when Zoro realized that he wasn't being swarmed because the Dream Eaters were too busy swarming something else. It was a feeding frenzy. He didn't know for certain what it was, but he could wager a guess.

Zoro grabbed his sword and sent a flying attack into the nearest shadows, intending to either fight his way through them, or at least draw them away from the light he had seen. The creatures shrieked as the attack passed through their forms and they darted away. Their cries alerted the others of the attacker, and something Zoro had never expected happened. They all vanished.

They are cowards and will likely flee at the first sign of danger.

Zoro glanced warily at the walls, searching for any lingering beasts that may want to attack him. When he turned back to the light, it had gone.

For a moment, Zoro panicked. Had they taken the soul with them? He didn't even know if it was Luffy, and it had disappeared! On the very edge of his peripheral vision, a shadow shifted on the wall. In an instant he had drawn his sword and turned to face the shadow. His shadow.

The swordsman regarded the form projected on the wall, and turned to find the source. It wasn't hard to locate—the little ball of light was bobbing excitedly back and forth some three inches from his nose. When he waved it off, it whirled excitedly around his hand and up his arm, slinging around his neck to dodge back and forth in front of his nose again, leaving an afterimage of light in its wake.

"Luffy? Hey—" Before he had a chance to finish the sentence, the soul darted away, passing through a wall and leaving him in darkness. Zoro ran after it, hoping that the walls would be an impalpable as before, since he couldn't see to avoid running into them. He didn't see or feel himself passing through the walls of the Dream Eater's lair, but the swordsman was hit by a bright light nonetheless.

He blinked a few times and after a couple moments, his eyes adjusted and the same empty landscape he'd traveled through before made itself known.

"You've done well." Zoro turned to the voice. Its owner stood some ten feet away, staring solemnly at Zoro. In his hand, he held the unprocessed soul. Zoro's eyes narrowed, his body growing tense.

"What're you doing?" His voice was cold, but if Death perceived the threat, he took no heed. Instead, the hooded figure turned away from him. The voice that echoed through his mind, was nothing more than a telepathic message, but for all Zoro knew, it could have been screamed in his ears.

"You are far too trusting, Roronoa… Far too trusting, but you are lucky as well. I gave you my word, and I can not break it. But rest assured, the next time I have the chance, I will not be hindered by my inability to break a promise. I will take your captain's soul."

"Tsch." Zoro scoffed, "Like I'd let you."

"You may leave this place the way you came in." With that, Death vanished, though the voice remained, "And I would make haste. Your two hours are up."

There will be only one more, short chapter to serve as an epilogue and wrap this up nicely… or not so nicely, depending on what you wanted from this story. Thanks to all who read and reviewed!